Raven Plume
by AkaWarai
Summary: Forced from a comfortable life by accusations of witchcraft that tear her family apart, Kairi embarks on a journey to the New World to escape her past and fulfill the destiny unknownigly placed on her by a fortuneteller.


_The old woman grabbed her hand, forcefully for such a frail lady. Kairi didn't resist, but merely focused on the wizened claw-like hands. She paused for a moment before finally meeting the woman's glazed, opaque blue eyes. Even though she could not see, Kairi could somehow sense the old gypsy could, in fact, see her. Not in the physical sense of course, but it was as if by making eye contact, Kairi's soul had been bound…and surprisingly it wasn't eerie. _

_The woman, known throughout Kairi's home village as a fortune teller, gasped painfully. _

"_Ma'am, what is it? Are you hurt? Ma'am, please, what's wrong?!" Kairi asked frantically. Even after being raised to believe the gypsies were dangerous and downright terrible, Kairi couldn't bring herself to hate the woman. Not in the least. _

"_I…see…a violet tulip. The wind blows…its petals scatter down a path. Blowing…blowing. They land…in a field of…heather and lavender…" the woman paused, gasping and coughing into her shawl, thin, frail body shaking. Kairi stroked her long, wild gray hair tenderly. She couldn't help believe that the woman was senile._

_Something sparked in the elder's blind eyes as Kairi thought this, "Sure…think this old lady is dotty as a loon…you'll see…fetch me that shallow bowl and the water pitcher…" _

_Kairi moved about the small tent, searching for the wanted items. She pushed through a thick patch of incense smoke, coughing and sputtering, but finding what she had quested for. She took it back to the richly bedecked table the old woman sat at._

"_Now…foolish child…watch the water…" the woman poured the water into it. The water stirred, rotating minutely on its own. Suddenly, the water was like a window and Kairi could see through to another world._

_In the scry-glass, Kairi saw herself holding a deep purple tulip. Suddenly a wind blew, strong and unrelenting, blowing her scry-self's hair everywhere, and scattering the flower's petals down a path she hadn't noticed. They blew into a large field, wild with overgrown heather and lavender. A snow of black feathers fell from a wisteria sky. The scry-Kairi continued through the field, confidently, she came across the field to a curiously large pile of black feather, surrounded by some scant, short, star-of-Bethlehem plants. She smoothed the plumes aside to reveal a tiny trinity; a red rose, a white rose, and a peony. The scry-Kairi smiled. _

_Suddenly the real Kairi was thrown back into conscious reality. Realizing she was now on the ground, she heaved herself up, smoothing her skirts before looking at the fortune-teller. _

"_You child have the Sight! What a wondrous gift in these times…or is it a curse?" the woman said in her dry, raspy, ancient voice before a apparently nodding off to what seemed to be a most peaceful sleep. Kairi padded lightly to the other side of the table biting her lip. She pulled aside a canary shawl and wound her hand around the elder's wrist. She felt no pulse. Could sense no life giving flow of blood. It seemed as if that last scry had finally sent the woman to a land of larkspur and cosmos…a land of peace and calm beauty._

_Kairi stood for a moment, then sunk to the floor, grasping herself, enveloping herself in her arms. A flower of skirts and lace on the floor of the tent, silent except for the occasional whimper. She never even noticed the gypsy boy who had come to stand behind her. _

_She finally sensed his presence, and turned around. He was a boy not much older than her, dressed jauntingly in Puritan black and bright Gypsy color. He offered a hand from beneath his forest-toned cloak. Kairi hesitated and then extended her own to meet his gloved hand. He pulled her up, gentle and firm simultaneously. Despite distrust, Kairi couldn't help the rush of familiarity in her heart and memory. Most of his face was hidden in the shadow of his green hood, but she could see teeth glinting in a smile, eyes shining in the candlelight. _

"_That's a girl. Now, be off safely to your home. Take care Miss; my peaceful Madame here has left me a charge I must fulfill."_

Kairi awoke sweating in her bed. She sat up and felt the chill greet her. She had been reliving that event that had taken place a fortnight ago, when on her way to town on a errand, she had been beckoned by an ancient gypsy. She stood up and glanced out her open window to the sunrise. It was just over the tips of the tall, England trees.

_Not long after daybreak. Ugh…it's too early._

She groggily pulled herself out of her pink sleeping shift and into her clothes.

Kairi sat down in a chair, not quite ready to begin the day. She dozed slightly, looking out the window. The soft wind cooled her face and ruffled the curtains. She glanced at the window ornament her father had given her. It was a simple, circular quartz that acted as a prism; scattering tiny crystalline rainbows throughout her room in the early morning light. She felt her eyes unfocus like they had in the gypsy's tent in the presence of the scrying bowl. Suddenly, she saw another mirror-world, like before. Kairi could see the gypsy boy who she had briefly met. He was wound in a net on a ship, one arm around a mast. He looked down at her, grinning a goofy grin.

Kairi looked away. She still hadn't deciphered what she had seen before, and she did not want to focus on this. Instead she stood up and walked deliberately out her room and down the stairs to the sitting room her parents occupied.

"Good morning" She greeted brightly before sitting down. Her cheery attitude disintegrated at the somber expressions on her parents' faces. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing dear, we were just" her mother started before she was cut off by her husband.

"Blast it; she's old enough to know the truth!" Her father spat, unnerved, "That accursed witch hunt has reached _our_ home!"

Kairi gulped; lately a sickness had spread among many in the town. The arrival of a new preacher had originally brought hope, but he had in turn brought beliefs of witches and evil sorcery. According to him, a malevolent one (and of course he believed they all were malevolent) had caused the pain and suffering of the people. And of course the frightened citizens lapped up the story.

"So, how does it affect us?" Kairi asked timidly. Although she already knew the answer; they were newcomers, outsiders, to this place. While they had lived here of her young life, the rest of the families were rooted here by generations. Her mother was also an accomplished healer, and while for a long time the citizens were grateful, with the arrival of the priest, it had suddenly been condemned and looked down upon.

In short, her family was exhibit A.

"That…preacher," Her father spat the word, as if it tasted foul on his tongue, "Has had the gall to accuse your mother." He shoved a paper her way. Kairi lifted it to her eyes:

_Eliza Llawcae, wife of merchant Thomas Llawcae, is under suspicion of witchcraft, associated with the local sickness and death. She is to remain under house arrest until summoned for trial by the Reverend John Radclife._

She stopped reading and turned to her parents.

"But there's no proof! They can't do this!"

"They can and they will! The stinking cowardly…" Her father continued on, muttering curses about the accusers. Her mother merely wound her hands in her lap, silent, mouth a thin, hard-pressed gash.

"But she's done so much for this village! Why would they?! How could they?! I've healed the people too! Why aren't they taking me too?!"

"Kairi!" Her mother gasped. Kairi didn't say a word, but she felt her eyes water, ready to burst with hysteric tears. She struggled to calm herself down.

"They will! Even if half of those damned people wouldn't be alive without you two, they're ready to blame anyone! And there's nothing we can do!"

"Surely there's something, they'll listen to reason!"

"No, they won't. If reason could save us now, we never would have been blamed in the first place.

Kairi couldn't believe her ears. Her parents, her strong loving parents had given up on themselves, and on the people. Angry as her father was, even he was ready to accept the fate of his family.

"So, we have arranged for you to go live with a friend of ours." Kairi at this point could feel the tears roll down her face. Not only had the given up hope, they were giving up _her_. They wouldn't even keep the family together. She ran back up to her room, her sanctuary, and flung herself on the unmade bed, still warm with her body heat. She curled up into a ball, holding herself, willing away the truth. She let herself cry, hard and long.

Finally, she rose at the sound of a rapping on the window. She vaguely remembered closing the window this morning when she woke, and moved over to it groggy, as if in a dream. A scrap of paper was wedged underneath the glass. She pried it out. The message was simple and written in untidy script:

_Take care and be prepared, Miss. _


End file.
